Charlottesville Personal Injury Lawyer - Defective Products

Bush Administration And Congress Renew Steps In Ensuring Consumer Product Safety

Greg Webb — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:51:21 GMT

With the importation of many cheap goods, along with the weakness of the nation's regulatory system, millions of products were recalled last year. In the past, the Bush administration has had little motivation in trying to make regulation industries, such as the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), up to date, ignoring the shrinking staff and out of date technology. Now, however, with the surge in tainted products, the administration and Congress are finally trying to ensure the safety of imports to consumers of all ages. For the first time, the CPSC will have full-time inspectors posted at all major U.S. ports. Congress is also close to approving a comprehensive reform of the commission, its first in almost two decades. These new port inspectors, expected to number about fifty in all, will be able to study sophisticated customs data and also be able to examine suspicious cargo. Although they will be inspecting thousands of products, inspectors would never be able to sift through the millions of products that come into the country each year. Manufacturers, individual retailers, and industries are still responsible for making sure their products are safe.

The House passed a bill to reform the CPSC and in early March the Senate passed its own bill, strengthening and improving the effort. The Senate is suggesting a requirement for a public database and website where consumers can go to register complaints and immediately find out which products are harmful. Both of the bills would raise the CPSC's funding from $63 million to $100 million annually, and increase the fines for reselling tainted products from $1.8 million to $10 million. It has also been mentioned that the bill should include protection for whistleblowers, ban lead in toys completely, give states more authority to enforce federal laws, and include a requirement that all children's products must be certified by commission-approved laboratories.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Greg Webb

MEGA Brands Issues Giant Recall On Magtastik, Magnetix Jr., and MagnaMan Toys

Greg Webb — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:10:58 GMT

MEGA Brands America Inc. issued a recall on about 2.4 million Chinese-manufactured toys last week due to small magnetic components falling out of its toys, resulting in a choking hazard. MEGA Brands is recalling about 1.1 million Magtastik and Magnetix Jr. preschool toys, along with 1.3 million MagnaMan magnetic action figures. The toys were sold between January 2005 and December 2007 at toy stores throughout the country, such as Wal-Mart, Target, Kmart, and Toys R' Us.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and MEGA Brands received nineteen complaints of magnets coming loose in Magtastic and Magnetix Jr. toys. For example, a three-year-old child had to go to the hospital to dislodge a magnet from his naval cavity. Although no one reported injuries, there were over twenty-five reports of magnets coming loose from MagnaMan figures. With forty-four complaints over the last two years regarding loose magnets, the company knew a recall was in order.

For more information about the recall, or to learn how to receive a product replacement of comparable value, you can visit www.megabloks.com or call 1-800-779-7122.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Greg Webb

Lawsuit Filed By Family of Boy Killed by Unsecured Soccer Goal

Greg Webb — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:07:54 GMT

Charlottesville, Va. (March 17, 2008) A lawsuit was filed today in the Circuit Court of Prince William County, Virginia on behalf of the Estate of Hayden Ellias, the 10 year-old boy who died when an unsecured soccer goal fell over and killed him. The estate is represented by attorneys Shawn S. Kasserman with the Chicago, IL law firm of Corboy & Demetrio and J. Gregory Webb and Paul R. Thomson, III with the Charlottesville, VA law firm of Michie Hamlett Lowry Rasmussen & Tweel.

On May 7, 2007, Hayden Ellias attended soccer practice for the Winchester United Under 10 boys soccer team at Millbrook High School in Frederick County, Virginia. The field where the practice took place had two moveable soccer goals at opposite ends of the field. During a scrimmage with the Winchester United Under 11 girls team, Hayden, who was the goalie, was struck on the head and neck when the portable soccer goal tipped over, killing him. He is survived by his parents, Gregory and Mary Ellias, his 12 year-old brother, Colin Ellias, and his 9 year-old sister, Alanna Ellias.

The lawsuit was filed against Porter Athletic Equipment Company, manufacturers of the goal, Howard Shockey & Sons, installers of the goal, Phil Pappas, architect, OWPR, Inc., an architectural firm, and five soccer associations, the Blue Ridge Youth Soccer Association, Inc., Virginia Youth Soccer Association, Inc., Old Dominion Soccer League, Inc., United States Youth Soccer Association, Inc., and United States Soccer Federation, Inc.

The complaint alleges that each defendant knew or should have known of the dangers and hazards of moveable soccer goals and failed to protect Hayden from those dangers. Prior to Hayden's death, there were 84 other similar incidents where moveable soccer goals injured or killed a soccer player.

According to Attorney Kasserman:

This problem is known throughout the soccer industry and there are far too many cases like it each year. It is Hayden's parents' hope that this lawsuit will help change the way the soccer industry designs, installs, uses and inspects moveable soccer goals and finally give our children's safety the priority it deserves.

Attorney Webb added:

This is a tragic example of the danger facing hundreds of thousands of our children who play organized soccer each year throughout the United States. The goal that crushed Hayden is extremely top heavy and is easily tipped forward. The only feature designed to keep the goal from tipping forward are ground anchors, which all too often are not attached to the goals and not re-installed after the goals are moved.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Greg Webb

Biggest Verdict Ever Reached In Asbestos Related Case

Greg Webb — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:04:07 GMT

A San Francisco Superior Court jury has ordered Georgia Pacific Corp., an asbestos manufacturer, to pay over $7 million in damages, in the largest asbestos-related verdict ever. The decision came after the manufacturer exposed a onetime film actress and singer, Joan Mahoney, to fibers, causing her to contract terminal cancer, mesothelioma, while she was working in a home-remodeling business with her husband, Daniel Mahoney. The jury assessed the Mahoney's damages to be $20 million and assigned 30% of the responsibility to Georgia Pacific Corp., the only defendant in the trial. The other $13 million will go unpaid, although, the couple did reach private settlements with other manufacturers.

Georgia Pacific Corp. says that although they do sympathize with the couple, the frequency and amount of exposure in which Mrs. Mahoney described, along with the type of asbestos fiber itself, makes it highly unlikely that the product, formerly made by the company, could have caused the illness. The Mahoneys, however, say they used the Georgia Pacific Corp.'s asbestos compound to fill cracks in sheetrock during the time they were involved in the home-remodeling business to make ends meet. They also claim the company continued to produce the compound after learning it caused cancer and stopped only after the federal government outlawed asbestos products in 1977. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/12/BADMVINSN.DTL&feed=rss.bayarea

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Greg Webb

California Appellate Court Refuses to Change Its Ruling Against Ford

Greg Webb — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 15:52:16 GMT

A California state appellate court stood by its earlier ruling, instructing Ford Motor Co. to award $82.6 million in damages to Benetta Buell-Wilson claiming faulty design caused her wreck, even after the Supreme Court asked them to reconsider. The three appellate justices said the case used by the Supreme Court for precedent did not contain anything that warranted a change in their judgment. They also stated the decision should not be reversed because Ford's proposed jury instructions on third-party harm were an incorrect statement of the law, Ford failed to timely object to Buell-Wilson's closing arguments regarding punitive damages, Ford failed to request a limiting instruction during the trial's liability phase, and Ford did not raise any instructional errors on appeal. The case at hand involved Ford's problematic Explorer, which has been known to be prone to rollover. Buell-Wilson was injured when her Explorer fishtailed as she was trying to avoid a metal object in the road. Her lawyers argued Ford had known about these design defects and refused to act. The jurors agreed and hit Ford with heavy damages, a sum that was ultimately reduced down to $82.6 million. Ford's lawyers claim the appellate court's order was directly against the Supreme Court's mandate.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Greg Webb

Landmark Decision Precedent Could Hinder Even More Personal Injury Lawsuits

Greg Webb — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 22:38:05 GMT

In late February, a landmark decision by the Supreme Court ruled patients injured by most medical devices cannot sue the manufacturers. This decision expands upon the Bush administration's policy reversal in 2004, contending that if the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves a product, the manufacturer of the product is therefore protected against lawsuits at the state level. The recent decision was supported by a legal theory that states the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sufficiently regulates the drug and device industries and should therefore not be second-guessed by courts. Critics reply they too would agree with this logic if the FDA were doing a better job. http:///www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-fda3mar03,1,414946.story?track=rss&ctrack=2&cset=true

This decision comes at a time in which the FDA has been receiving a lot of criticism for not properly inspecting many different products, such as a Chinese factory that produced the drug heparin that led to as many as twenty-one deaths. Last fall a study found the FDA to be severely understaffed and underfunded, putting American consumers at many safety risks. The current FDA commissioner even admitted that the agency needs a possibly time-consuming systemic overhaul. Supporters of the decision, however, say this is a step in the right direction since manufacturers were scared to create new innovations for fear of lawsuits. This coming fall the ruling could be extended to the much larger pharmaceutical industry as well in the case of Levine v Wyeth. Legal experts and attorneys are worried that if this decision goes the way it did in the medical devices hearing, manufacturers will not be held responsible for putting products on the market they knew were unsafe. http:///www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-fda3mar03,1,414946.story?track=rss&ctrack=2&cset=true

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Greg Webb

Sears Settlement Publicized To Encourage Stricter Legislation On Product Safety

Greg Webb — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 17:48:13 GMT

Consumer groups are publicizing a recent lawsuit settlement against Sears in an effort to encourage lawmakers to toughen legislation on consumer product safety. The lawsuit against Sears occurred due to the company's installation of millions of kitchen ranges that were prone to tipping over, thus causing more than one hundred people injuries from burns caused by hot matter spilling from the stove top. In some cases people were even killed after being crushed by the weight of the stove. The settlement of over $500 million, requires Sears to fix the ranges in consumer's homes by bolting them to the floor or wall. The settlement includes all ranges sold by Sears since 2000. Consumer groups claim the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) knew about these dangerous stoves for twenty years but did not take the steps needed to correct the problem. The commission's spokesperson, however, stated they issued a recommendation that consumers use a bracket to secure the range and that the stove industry apply its own voluntary safety standards. More details about the Sears settlement can be found at www.searsrangesettlement.com

This case comes as another example of the commission's shortcomings, mostly the problem of understaffing which leads to products not being monitored effectively. Consumer groups are pushing for legislation that would help the CPSC with finances and many other internal problems. A recent bill to help improve the CPSC, passed within the House, has gotten a lot of positive response from the consumer groups due to it being a very bipartisan piece of legislation. Another bill that was passed in the Senate has gotten a negative response from consumer groups because they see it as overreaching and giving the commission greater discretion to reveal details of consumer complaints to the companies and would also discourage the companies from being forthright with regulators. The Bush administration also disagrees with the Senate's bill because it gives state prosecutors the power to enforce the consumer product laws and gives compensation to industry whistle-blowers.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Greg Webb

An Estimated 22,000 Lives Could Have Been Saved If Trasylol Removed Earlier

Greg Webb — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 17:27:40 GMT

In a 2006 study, Trasylol, a drug made by Bayer for use in operating rooms to control bleeding, was shown to have contributed to the deaths of thousands of patients over a fourteen-year period. The Canadian government conducted a clinical trial on the drug that had to be stopped due to the deaths of so many patients. There was concern long before the trial as well. After major studies identified the problem, it took Bayer and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) nearly two years to get the drug off the shelves. During these two years, Trasylol contributed to the loss of about one thousand lives a month. A leading medical researcher finished the largest study on Trasylol ever, conducted of over 5,065 patients in 17 countries. This study showed a very important correlation between Trasylol use and kidney failure requiring dialysis. It also showed an increasing death rate in the patients using Trasylol. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/14/60minutes/main3831900_page4.shtml

Since the 1980s, there has been controversy over the safety of Trasylol. Animals given the drug were said to have suffered severe kidney failure. The doctor who oversaw the experiment on the animals said Bayer, when told about the side effect, was not interested in reexamining the drug since it was making the company hundreds of millions of dollars. When one of the nation's leading heart surgeons conducted his own study on the drug in 1992, thirteen of the twenty people he gave Trasylol had problems with their kidneys after their surgery. The FDA, in the case of Trasylol, did not certify the drug as being safe. Instead, it certified the drug as being effective in controlling bleeding. Until 2006, there was not a large enough study to determine whether kidney failure was a problem with Trasylol so the FDA and Bayer never had a reason to pull it from the shelves. In 2006, the Mangano study claimed thousands of people died due to the drug, which led to the FDA issuing an advisory to doctors, although the administration did not plan to have a meeting about the drug for eight months. Bayer tried to have its own study refuting that of its criticizers, however, the results of this study were very similar.
When Mangano asked the FDA advisory committee to review the drug due to the dangerous risks he found, Bayer did not disclose that they too had heard about these risks from the results of their own study. Bayer, however, claims the data was not ready for review. Because the FDA did not have the results of Bayer's study, they voted against Mangano's study and kept the drug on the market. The doctor who conducted the study for Bayer told the FDA about his findings that went unheard at the committee hearing. However, it took the FDA a year to consider the results of the hidden Bayer study. If Trasylol had been removed from the market when Mangano's research was made public, it is estimated that 22,000 lives could have been saved. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/14/60minutes/main3831900_page4.shtml

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Greg Webb

FDA Does Not Inspect Chinese Drug Manufacturer Due To Mix-up

Greg Webb — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 16:57:51 GMT

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) failed to inspect a Chinese facility that supplies the active ingredient of heparin, a widely used blood thinner, because the facility's name was confused with another just like it. The FDA says, however, that the heparin case is one of their top priorities and a team of inspectors is on its way to investigate the plant as part of an effort to deduce what caused the sudden spike of problems with the drug, which has been on the market since the 1930's. There were 350 adverse reactions to the drug, including vomiting, breathing difficulties, low blood pressure, and death in four cases. Last week, the FDA advised doctors to start prescribing alternatives to heparin. While federal law does not require the FDA to inspect foreign drug manufacturers, the agency usually does perform inspections before allowing a new drug or ingredient to go to American consumers with an FDA stamp of approval.

This error has given further evidence of the FDA's shortcomings. The agency seems uncertain about the number of foreign drug companies due to conflicting databases; one database says there are 7,000 foreign drug companies while another says there are only 3,000. The FDA commissioner is asking the government to agree to posting FDA inspectors in China, India, the Middle East, and three other regions. He also wants the FDA to have a permanent presence in the U.S. embassy in Beijing.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Greg Webb

Vinyl Plastic Baby Products Found To Contain Large Amounts of Lead

Greg Webb — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 09:44:56 GMT

A handful of well-known baby products made out of vinyl plastic, such as baby bibs and lunchboxes, have recently been found to contain high levels of lead. Some other baby products were also found to contain high amounts of lead: a Medela-brand cooler used to store breast milk, a carrying case sold with the First Years breast pump made by RC2, a Playtex baby bottle cooler, and a vinyl pacifier carrying case manufactured by Skip Hop. The Center for Environmental Health, the organization that conducted the investigation, found the products to have from 1,100 parts per million of lead to 5,500 parts per million of lead. Medela, RC2 and Skip Hop are conducting their own investigations about the organization's findings. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/11/business/11toy.html?_r=2&ref=business&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

The findings of this investigation are going to come under harsh criticism since the manufacturers of the products do not believe lead in plastic is a health concern due to the lead not being accessible in the plastic. There is also no federal law to ban the use of lead in children's products other than toys. However, legislators are working to pass a law that would limit the total amount of lead that can be found in children's products. This law, if enacted, could forbid lead in plastic at the levels found by The Center for Environmental Health. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/11/business/11toy.html?_r=2&ref=business&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Greg Webb